March is ending, and, for me, that means a month of absolutely delightful chaos is about to ensue. As a poet, I look forward to April every year. April is National Poetry Month, which means I’m celebrating in numerous ways! And, this year, it’s busier than ever!

Starting April 1, there will be a pretty incredible line-up of poets (and poetry lovers) guest-posting here on the blog while I go off to conquer other tasks. I hope you enjoy their posts. Because, man, there are some exciting people with exciting ideas that will be hanging out here over the course of the month.

Website-Badge-2Meanwhile, I’ll be over at PoMoSco.com, posting new poems every day based on prompts provided by Found Poetry Review. This year, they are celebrating national poetry month with a scouting-esque experience. Each challenge represents a badge that we can “win” for completing the challenge. There are 30 badges, and you know I want to collect them all! We got to start ahead, which is great, since I’ll be traveling this month. I’ve already enjoyed working with source texts like DEENIE by Judy Blume, a Buffy Season 8 graphic novel, and an X-Files transcript!

Alyxandra Harvey is always a delight—a poet and novelist (with so many books out I can’t count them all in my head), her work is so full of spunky characters, dangerous intrigue, and good, old-fashioned fairytale fun. So when I got word that she was down for 7 Questions +1, I was super pumped. Here’s what she had to say:

E. Kristin Anderson: What was the first spark of inspiration for your latest novel?

Alyxandra Harvey: Usually a first line or a character starts poking me until I have to write their story. I also wanted to play with gothic stories and fairy tales because that’s always fun. And I’d already written about so many supernatural creatures: vampires, dragons, werewolves, ghosts, Fae, witches… I thought, why not put them all together? What happens when you have a zoo full of manticores and griffins and whatnot?

I’m so glad you’re here. Because, as a poet and chapbook author, I get this question a lot. AND, since chapbooks are an important part of poetry publishing — both in terms of what we consume as readers and what propels us forward as career poets — any poet with publishing aspirations should know about them!

The Short Version:

A chapbook, sometimes referred to as a pamphlet, is like a mini collection of poetry. Usually between fifteen to thirty pages (though some folks say anything under 50 pages is a chapbook), these are like little samplers of a poet’s work. Usually the chapbooks are pretty cheap, between $6 and $12, which also makes them super fun and easy to collect for readers…

There are just so many things to love in TICKER by Lisa Mantchev that I don’t know where to start. It’s steampunky goodness, with mystery and scandal and fun tech and all the subversion that a girl could want in a spunky heroine. I had so much fun reading TICKER. Here’s why:

1. There aforementioned spunky heroine isn’t afraid to take down the boys. Literally. I think her first encounter with the “hero” is slamming straight into him and attacking him with her “pixii” which, so far as I can tell, is something like a miniature steampunk lightsaber.

2. I say “hero” because there are multiple heroes. There’s the leading lady, Penny Farthing, who does her share of kicking ass, Buffy/Scully/Starbuck style. And there’s her brother, who is basically steampunk Q, making some super gadgets and doing his best to keep Penny from overworking her clockwork heart (heart attacks are bad, y’all). And then there’s Penny’s BFF who runs a bakery and has adorable tattoos. And then there’s Penny’s brother’s BFF who can ply anyone in town with either money or charm — and he doesn’t discriminate when it comes to charming either gender.

Today for my 7 Questions +1 feature, we have Katie Schickel, debut author of HOUSEWITCH, a new novel from Tor/Forge. I’m pumped to hear what she has to say about her writing process, hypothetical shenanigans, and perhaps some practical housewitchery.

E. Kristin Anderson: What was the first spark of inspiration for your latest book?

Katie Schickel: My husband and I had just bought a circa-1803 house that needed an overhaul (it was still plumbed for gas lights inside). We were renting a place on a barrier island nearby when I got the idea for the backstory in HOUSEWITCH. Every day, I’d push my stroller down the sandy road, past a little shingled shop called the Plum Island Soap Company. Inside, three women made and cut hand-crafted soap. Dried herbs hung from the ceiling of the small shop and breezes blew through the open windows. It reminded me of a scene from pioneer days when women made soap from lard and ashes. I couldn’t get the image out of my head. In my imagination, I added a few macabre details, like “What if the lard came from a human being?” I wrote the scene, filed it away, then a year later dusted it off and made it into chapter one of HOUSEWITCH.

If what you’re looking for is fast-paced, edgy, dangerous, and real, look no further than BLEED LIKE ME by C. Desir.

The author has referred to this book as a story about a teenage Bonnie and Clyde, and the reader can absolutely see the influence. It’s the story of a Amelia Gannon — Gannon to her friends — with parents so involved with her younger siblings that she almost disappears (unless her mom needs help). Gannon has found that cutting herself relieves the stress of her life. She hides the habit from her family and her friends — though she doesn’t have many. She hangs out at her hardware store job, at the shed where her boss lets her work on woodworking projects, and at the skate park. It’s among the skaters that she meets Michael Brooks, a foster kid who soon convinces her to run away with him.

So…I got some news. And when the yesses were finally yessed and the virtual hands were virtually shaken, I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

My chapbook PRAY PRAY PRAY: Poems I wrote to Prince in the middle of the night just sold to Porkbelly Press. You may have heard of Porkbelly. Either by following me on Goodreads as I’ve read like most of their catalog since I first heard about them last fall. Or maybe because they printed the gorgeous EMILY anthology that I was in earlier this year. Or maybe just because they’re an all-around badass operation.

This chapbook is the product of a few things, but it boils down to:

1. Prince. I’m obsessed with Prince. It was a sudden and unexpected obsession, but there it is. I now know more about Prince than probably most people who were fans in the 80s and 90s. This is a thing I do. You’re welcome, Prince.

2. Artistry. Especially music, as an appreciator, and writing, as a creator. Also, the work behind both “fine” art and entertainment.

3. Mental health, and my own struggles with severe depression in 2014. It was ugly, y’all. The Purple One got me through.

4. Patriotism. Which surprised me, as I wrote these pieces. But, oh, America, you are so dirty and beautiful and raw and broken and hopeful.

The jacket copy of PLAYLIST FOR THE DEAD by Michelle Falkoff compares this novel to YA favorites like THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER and THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. The jacket copy is dead on.

This debut novel tackles the tough topic of teen suicide with unexpected humor and a flash drive full of music — music left by Hayden as something of a suicide note for his best friend Sam. Naturally, Sam is distraught. He’s not only Hayden’s only friend (honestly, Hayden was his only friend, too), but he found Hayden on the night after they had a fight at a party. At the funeral, Sam is upset at the fakeness of everyone there — mostly the Bully Trifecta, which includes Hayden’s older brother.

I’m super pumped to have Julie Tibbott on Write All the Words today! She’s the author of MEMBERS ONLY: Secret Societies, Sects, and Cults Exposed! — a fantastic book about one of my favorite topics. You’re going to love what Julie has to say!

E. Kristin Anderson: What was the first spark of inspiration for your latest book?

Julie Tibbot: Cults and secret societies are of interest to many people. Everyone can relate to the desire to be part of a fellowship of like-minded individuals, and the idea of being privy to some hidden knowledge is also enticing. I can identify a few of the main strands of my own fascination with these groups.
As a young child, I was very into the idea of communal living—I’d make my dollhouse people live in communes. So, when I’d hear about cults and other groups where they often lived in such situations, my interest was piqued.
Later, I became fixated on subcultures, mostly “tribes” of cool people throughout the ages. Any group that had its own unique look, music, heroes, slang, cultural references—I wanted to know all about it. Of course, many cults and secret societies share these characteristics.

Today is another day on Zest Books’ Rockin’ Blog Tour. And, to answer questions about ROCKIN’ THE BOAT: 50 Iconic Revolutionaries – From Joan of Arc to Malcom X, we have author Jeff Fleischer.

E. Kristin Anderson: What was the first spark of inspiration for your latest book? [The weirder the better, we want the juicy details!]

Jeff Fleischer: I wish I had a better story here, but the publisher and I were talking about ideas for a possible history book. As soon as we mentioned doing something about revolutionaries, that jumped out at me as a good idea, because these are people I was already interested in, had studied a lot over the years, and knew I would enjoy writing about.

E. Kristin Anderson grew up in Westbrook, Maine and is a graduate of Connecticut College. She has a fancy diploma that says “B.A. in Classics,” which makes her sound smart but has not helped her get any jobs in Ancient Rome. Once upon a time she worked for The New Yorker magazine, but she soon packed her bags and moved to Texas. Currently living in Austin, Texas, Kristin is an online editor at Hunger Mountain and a contributing editor at Found Poetry Review. Kristin is the co-editor of the DEAR TEEN ME anthology (Zest Books, 2012), based on the website of the same name. As a poet she has been published worldwide in many literary journals from the UK’s Fuselit, to Cordite in Australia to the US’ Post Road and the Cimarron Review. Recently she’s graced the pages of Asimov’s Science Fiction, and she has work forthcoming in teen magazine Cicada. Kristin is the author of two chapbooks of poetry: A GUIDE FOR THE PRACTICAL ABDUCTEE (Red Bird Chapbooks, 2014) and A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY (Finishing Line Press, 2014). She hand-wrote her first trunk book at sixteen. It was about the band Hanson and may or may not still be in a notebook at her parents’ house. She blogs at EKristinAnderson.com.